Requiem
by Ghost Rider of the Aragon
Summary: After a mission gone wrong, the team is left reeling. It will take a miracle to get them back on their feet. And a miracle may just be what they get.
1. Chapter 1

_The memory of that day was something Clint longed to erase. _

_ "Barton, I've been compromised…" The words over the comm were cut off by the sound of a gunshot, then receding footsteps. _

_Then silence. _

_Noise had no effect on Clint. It implied that there was life. Life was good. _

_It was the silence that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, and his gut clench with terror. To him, silence was synonymous with death._

_ "I'm coming. I'll be there as soon as I can." No answer. "Tasha, I'm coming for you. Do you copy?" No answer. Clint had never been one for panicking. He'd even outdone Stark on the grace-under-pressure score. But this was his partner, and she was in trouble. He rushed into the room where he'd seen Natasha go, nearly barreling into the man who'd most likely just shot her. He cursed himself for his carelessness, slashing the man across the throat with one flick of his knife. The thug crumpled to the floor, but Clint was already in the next room. What he saw made him sick. Dark red hair lying in a pool of bright red. One pale hand reaching for the doorway. Blank jade eyes staring accusingly at him._

"You didn't get here fast enough, Barton. Now I've paid the price."_ they seemed to say. Clint pulled her into his lap, cradling her limp form in his arms. Tears sprang unbidden to his eyes when he realized it was too late. She was too far gone._

_ "T-Tasha? Please, no…Oh, God, please no…" He sat there holding her, God only knows how long, until the rest of the team found them. _

* * *

6 months later…

Clint sat straight up in bed, breathing heavily. He glanced over at the alarm clock on his bedside table. 2:17 A.M. _Great. Just frickin' great. Another sleepless night._ He laid back down, staring at the ceiling, a sob nearly choking him. How often had he woken up to nightmares and had Natasha by his side to comfort him? Now she was gone and it was his fault. He hadn't gotten to her soon enough. He sat up again, this time heading out into the living area of his apartment in StarkTower. The glow of the city spread out below him, but the sight did nothing to shake him from his funk. All the people going on with their lives, sleeping like nothing was wrong, and here he was falling apart. He ran a hand over his hair, breathing a sigh, trying to keep control of his breathing. He felt like someone was squeezing the oxygen out of his lungs from the inside, and he was paralyzed. He put his back against the wall, and slid down until he was seated on the floor, his knees nearly touching his chin. His whole body shook. It was so hard…so hard to breathe. Even thinking about breathing caused him pain. A low moan filled the apartment room with only one word recognizable.

"…Tasha…"

* * *

Two floors up, Tony and Pepper slept side by side. It was JARVIS who woke Tony up.

"Sir, pardon the hour, but it appears Agent Barton is troubled. Something appears to be impeding his respiratory functions." Tony rolled over and looked at the alarm clock. 2:26. Oh, boy…

"I'm on it, J. Thanks for the heads up."

"You're welcome, sir." Tony sat up, covered Pepper back up a little more, and ran to the elevator. He arrived in Clint's apartment only thirty seconds later. Clint looked as though nothing had happened.

"What's up, Stark?" Tony paused in the doorway.

"I, uh, got an alert from JARVIS telling me you weren't doing to well. Figured I'd check on you." Clint sighed and sat on the couch.

"So you came thinking I might need a friend?" The beginnings of sarcasm were making themselves evident. Tony backed off a little.

"I don't know. Do you? Because I don't want anything bad…I mean worse…to happen to you."

"I don't care what happens to me. I couldn't protect her. I wasn't there when she needed me to be, Tony." He exhaled loudly, and glanced back at the billionaire. "I'm not going to get over this overnight, but I doing the best I can." Tony nodded, a lump rising in his own throat at the memory of the spunky assassin.

"Don't hesitate to talk to me, or any of the team if you need to. We're all here for each other, and that includes you." Tony turned to leave, but then thought better of it. "I can't say that Natasha and I were on the best of terms, but she was an amazing person…" Tony drew in a shaky breath. "…We were damn lucky to have her as a member of our team." Where had that come from? He'd never been one to show emotion like this. Not since the incident with the Mandarin. With nothing more to add, he left. Clint smiled when he heard the door close. Stark was right. They were damn lucky. Luckier than they deserved. That didn't make the pain go away, though.

"Natasha, why did you have to go?" He leaned back and stared at the ceiling. After a moment, he got up and went back to bed. He didn't fall asleep right away. He finally did, after more than a few tears had stained the pillowcase.

0o0o0o0o0

Tony slid back under the covers, hoping not to disturb Pepper. That hope was immediately dashed when she put and arm across his chest.

"What's going on, Tony?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Nothing, just checking on a friend." Pepper woke up a little more, knowing exactly who Tony was talking about.

"Is he okay?"

"Well, he's not going to do anything desperate, if that's what you mean."

"You know what I mean." She sat up, leaning on her elbow.

"Just go back to sleep. Everything's all right. He'll be fine. He didn't want company, so I'm not going to force the issue."

"Wow. That's very…grown-up of you, Tony." Tony rolled his eyes.

"God forbid I do anything remotely mature. Jeez, Pep…" Pepper laid back down.

"Good night, Tony." Tony smiled as she nestled a little closer, her head effectively pinning his left shoulder to the mattress.

"Have I ever told you how lucky I am to have you?" Tony asked. He continued without letting her speak. "If not, I want you to know that you're the best thing that ever happened to me, and that I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I ever let anything happen to you." Pepper turned her head to look up at him.

"You haven't said it before, not in so many words. But I know what you mean."

"I love you, Pepper."

"I love you too. And even though you seem to get a kick out of almost giving me a heart attack every time you go on a mission, I wouldn't trade you for the world." Tony smiled, and kissed her forehead, and pulled her a little closer.

"That's all I need to know."


	2. Chapter 2

Fury stood at his normal spot on the bridge in the Helicarrier. The Avengers would not be expecting this. He would catch hell for what he'd done, but some things needed to be kept from them in order to get them moving in the right direction. Considering the evil glares he was getting from Agent Hill, this would be worse than when Coulson died, and miraculously 'got better'. He shook his head, waiting for the Quinjet carrying the Avengers to arrive on the flight deck. Soon, Agent Barton's familiar voice carried through the systems.

"Requesting permission to land. Over." Agent Hill pushed the button and spoke into the microphone.

"Deck is clear, you're free to land. Over." The aircraft landed, barely causing a jolt in the Helicarrier's flight. Within minutes, the Avengers had all gathered around the table. Tony and Steve were the only two who looked remotely comfortable. Dr. Banner looked like he wanted to go hide somewhere, and Clint's face was pained. This place held so many memories of_ her_, that it was almost unbearable. Fury stood in silence for a moment, trying to decipher each expression.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called you all." Tony cocked his head to one side, and looked like he was about to say something annoying. Which he did.

"Yeah, it'd be nice to know why I'm not at home with my girl." Fury smirked.

"Well, let me just tell you that there's a good reason for that. This may be painful for some of us, but the bad guys don't stop just because we lost one of our own." He glanced over at Clint, who looked like he was in pain. "But a lot of old wounds are going to be opened pretty soon. I just wanted to warn you." Clint nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"I can take it. What's going on, Director?" he asked hoarsely.

"The Red Room has been reactivated." Clint leaned back in his seat. The Red Room. The ones who had made Natasha what she was. The ones who had turned her into a spy.

"What are we supposed to do about it?" Tony asked. Steve glanced over at the billionaire.

"We stop them, of course." He replied. Tony glared.

"Well, thank you, Captain Obvious. I meant, how are we supposed to go about this? The relations between America and Russia are strained to say the least. We can't go in there and put a stop to this without stepping on a few toes." Fury nodded.

"Stark is right. But, SHIELD has a contact in Volgograd who might be able to get us in with little-to-no trouble."

"Who?" Bruce asked. Fury smiled slightly.

"You'll know when you see them." The team glanced around at each other, confusion obvious. "You leave tomorrow. Clothes and a place to stay will be provided for you. Do not bring excess personal belongings." Fury glanced over at Agent Hill, who nodded and left.

"Is this connected to Natasha at all? Aside from the Red Room?" Steve asked. Fury's expression was guarded.

"Yes and no. Just follow orders, and everything should turn out." Steve nodded, giving Tony a sideways glance, hoping that the "following's not really my style" thing wouldn't get brought up. Surprisingly, the genius was nodding in agreement.

"Sure thing, Director. If it means bringing down the bastard who took out Natasha…" Tony said, trailing off. Clint gave him a grateful look. Fury smiled.

The camaraderie of the team had suffered slightly in the past six months. Maybe going for something resembling revenge would bring them back together again. Not that this was purely a revenge mission. Fury handed each team member a folder with all the information they would need.

"You're dismissed for now. Study up and get some rest. The real work begins tomorrow." They all stood up and filed back to their quarters.

Tony thumbed through the file. It all seemed pretty clear cut.

The Red Room was a part of the KGB, and through it, the Black Widow Ops program was run. The program took little girls as young as 4, and as old as 9 and turned them into soulless killing machines. Methods of indoctrination included brainwashing and tortures of various sorts. Tony closed the file, disgusted with anyone who would do something like that to innocent children. He thought of his own daughter, Maddie, and shuddered as he imagined his precious five-year-old in the hands of such monsters. If he wasn't doing this for Natasha, he was doing it to save other little girls like Maddie.

Steve watched Tony's face darken.

"Are you okay, Stark?" he asked. Tony pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'll be fine." Steve could tell that he was lying.

"Don't lie, Tony. What's bugging you?" Tony gestured at the folder.

"Why? Why do they do things like that to…" Tony's voice broke. He took a deep breath. "These kids have almost no chance to _be_ kids. Then they're sent off into the world, with nothing to look forward to, except for a bullet to the head, or poisoning, or something else once their handlers are through with them." Steve nodded.

"It's horrible, that's for sure. How Natasha got out of that; it's a miracle she made it as far as she did." Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah…" After a moment, he looked up at Steve.

"How did she get out of it in the first place?"

"I got her out." Clint's voice replied from the doorway. Tony and Steve's head whipped around to face the archer.

"Do you mind telling us?" Steve asked. Clint gave them a one-sided smile.

"Do you mind if I come in and sit down?" Tony shook his head.

"Have a seat."


End file.
